English Family want to go full time in USA

New Member

Hi,
we're a Family from UK wanting to sell our house and come to USA, buy an RV and travel around your wonderful country.
This is a huge step for us and we want to be sure we're doing the right thing.
The RV experience hasn't hit UK and we really have no idea what we're doing.
We've got our eye on a 36ft Fleetwood, it seems to have all we need.
We obviously won't have a home address to register the rv, what can we do?
We know we will come accross many pitfalls, but really want to do it, so if you can share your experiences we'd really appreciate it!
Can anyone offer us advice or help to get us started, you don't know how helpful you could be.......
Thanks
Martin, Lisa & Ellie

New Member

I would highly recommend you lease a motorhome and try out the rving lifestyle before actually purchasing a unit. If you do not like the lifestyle you have not invested so much money. There are many forums that can help you with this endevor and if you email me directly at rvwizard@hotmail.com I will give you some web site addresses you can ask this question toward.

Senior Member

We are fulltime RVers in the USA and we use Escapees RV club as a home address. We register and insure the RV and our towed vehicle in Texas at Escapees and we get our mail sent there, and they forward it to us as we request. I would suggest that you check out the organization at www.escapees.com to see what they offer.

I would also suggest that you get a copy of the book, "Full-time RVing", written by Jan & Bill Moeller and published by Trailer Life publishing and read it. That will give you a feel for all of the different things that you may need to deal with and some ideas of how to do so.

If there is anything that I can help with, feel free to contact me directly.

New Member

My wife and I are also looking into full timing for a year or two. In our case, it is because my work has me jumping around the country - 6 weeks here, 8 there. We want to be together, but it's pretty tough to move a family that often.

Can anyone recommend any other organizations like escapees.com? I'd like to check out several.

Any suggestions on full timing with a family and two satellite dishes would be appreciated.

New Member

Sounds like a wonderful idea, and I'm envious. Wizard and Kirk already gave you some excellent advice, particularly about rental/leasing of a coach before you buy. If you decide to buy and if money is no object and you plan to put a lot of miles on your coach, I suggest purchasing a diesel pusher. Otherwise, the newer Workhorse W22 gas chassis units might be a better choice.

I suggest you continue to cruise this and other internet forums and get information from many sources, including obtaining subscriptions to Motorhome, FMCA, and the Good Sam magazines to take advantage of the wide range of opinions from our motorhoming brethren and professionals. You'll find a lot of information, some of no value, but overall I think you'll be able to start developing your own opinions so that you can make informed decisions about what to do. Good luck. (Born in Brighton, but a citizen of the good ol' USA for many years now.)

New Member

IT IS a wonderful idea! if you can afford it. Personally, I like the bigger rigs, from 38' to 45'; got to have at least one slide. If you plan on putting on a lot of miles, a Diesel Pusher is the way to go.
Hope to hear from you soon, on what you have decided. Best of luck, and hope you have made an informed decision.!

John
P.S. What the other Respondents have given as advice is excellent. Definitely check those things out as best you can.

New Member

As an RV'er whose wife is from Liverpool, I agree with the rv wizard(for more than professional reasons) rent an RV first to see how you like the size. The biggest thing that we find is that people that buy for the first time is that they get one too small or not the floorplan that they need. If you rent first then you spend some time in the unit without all of the expense of actually owning one first. There are several reputable companies out there that rent for extended periods. El Monte and Cruise America are just a couple. I can think of a few others if anyone wants to e-mail me at jraymer@campingtime.com